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IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 211: Honour in Medieval Culture, I

Monday 1 July 2019, 14.15-15.45

Organiser:Christopher Liebtag Miller, Berlin Program for Advanced German & European Studies, Freie Universität Berlin
Moderator/Chair:Ann Marie Rasmussen, Department of Germanic & Slavic Studies, University of Waterloo, Ontario
Paper 211-aBeyond Blauðr: Competing Concepts of Honour in the Sagas of Icelanders
(Language: English)
Ann Sheffield, Department of Chemistry, Allegheny College, Pennsylvania
Index terms: Gender Studies, Language and Literature - Scandinavian, Social History, Women's Studies
Paper 211-bCapital and Principle: Ancient Honour in Medieval German Literature
(Language: English)
Christopher Liebtag Miller, Berlin Program for Advanced German & European Studies, Freie Universität Berlin
Index terms: Gender Studies, Language and Literature - German, Social History
Abstract

Across linguistic, cultural, and geographic boundaries, the concept of 'honour' is seemingly omnipresent in the records of medieval culture. This omnipresence and the broad semantic range granted to 'honour' in both modern and medieval usage present considerable difficulties for the scholar. Are differing conceptualizations of honour as value system or symbolic capital distinct manifestations, or are they fundamentally interconnected? To what extent are these conceptions static or dynamic within individual texts, societies, narrative traditions, or cultural spheres? This session will explore possibilities of interpretation offered by both competing and complimentary conceptions of honour and its role in medieval literature and culture.